Coronation of Otto the Great 1ST
of Saxon and Franconian princes held at Erfurt1 in his father's lifetime;
but not content with this, he laid great stress on the importance of a
solemn ceremony which took place early in August at Aix-la-Chapelle,
the old Carolingian seat of residence. There the Archbishop Hildebert
of Mayence presented the young duke to the assembled multitude of people
with the words, "Behold, I bring to you Otto, the elect of God, the chosen
of our lord Henry, and now made king by all the princes. If the election
is pleasing to you, declare it by show of hands." Immediately the whole
people lifted their hands and hailed the new king with clamorous shouts.
He was invested at the hands of the Archbishop with the insignia of
royalty, the sword with which to strike down the enemies of Christ, the
bracelets and cloak, the emblems of peace, the sceptre and the staff by
which tokens he is inspired to chasten his subjects and to stretch, out the
hand of mercy to the servants of God, to widows and orphans. Finally
he was anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Mayence assisted by
Archbishop Wikfried of Cologne and by them was led by a special stair
to a throne set up between marble pillars where he could see and be
observed by all. After the celebration of mass, the company adjourned
to the palace for a state banquet at which the dukes officiated, Gilbert
of Lorraine as Chamberlain, Everard of Franconia as Steward, Herman
of Swabia as Cupbearer, and Arnulf of Bavaria as Marshal. It was
a festival of the highest significance; it was a public recognition of the
union of the German tribes, the foundation of the German monarchy.
The royal influence was no longer to be confined to the limits of
Saxony; while he retained the duchy in his own hands he delegated
many of the ducal functions to Herman Billung, a noble connected with
the royal house and founder of the later ducal house of Saxony. Another
important post was granted to Count Siegfried, who is described as second
only to the king among the Saxon chiefs; and on his death it passed to
Count Gero. Herman and Gero were the two men who, throughout
the reign of Otto, by their untiring efforts not only kept the Wends in
check, but established German authority on a firm footing in the marches
between the Elbe and the Oder; they relieved the king of a difficult task,
enabling him thereby to turn his whole attention to his policy of cen-
tralising the government, of extending the royal influence, and later of
adding Italy to his dominions and of restoring the imperial title. But
these appointments were unpopular in Saxony. Wichmann was jealous
of the advancement of his younger brother Herman, and by the selection
1 The passage in WiduMnd, n. 1: Defuncto...Heinrico, omnis populus Fran-
corum atque Saxonum iam olim designatwm, regem a, patre,filium eius Oddonem, elegit
sibi in principem, suggests that Otto was formally elected—at Fritzlar or Forchheim
it is conjectured—before proceeding to Aix-la-Chapelle for coronation; so Giesebrecht,,
i. 241, and K5pke-Dummler, 26. But Waitz, rerfassungsgeschichte, vi. 135, n. 3,
and Maurenbrecher, Konigtwahlen, 54, n. 3, take these words to refer to the
assembly at Erfurt before Henry's death when Otto was designated as the successor.